Description:
Face 4 Radio is southwestern Ontario’s newest party band. Specializing in playing what YOU want to hear, this band also knows how to get in on the fun being had on the dance floor and throughout the club. Face 4 Radio has a wide variety of material to select from and is prepared for any gig: bars, dance clubs, festivals, corporate functions, etc. The band consists of members from some of Chatham-Kent’s favourite bands: The Janet Theory, Foster Child, Dead Girls Union, Finding Core and Sound of Static.

Notes: The CD contains 12 original songs, most in an Americana or roots country vein, although there are a few crossover pop surprises and one French-language number. There’s also a fun dance remix of the title tune. The sessions for this album have seen the cream of the Ottawa Valley’s country and roots musicians populate its tracks. Steel player Al Bragg has played with Carol Baker, the Family Brown, Terry Carisse and South Mountain and he puts down some unbelievable tracks on David’s album, while Ball and Chain’s Michael Ball does a masterful job of accompanying him on the violin. Contemporary folk artist Christine Graves adds harmonies and various Ottawa Folklore Centre alumni colour the album with all manner of guitars: resonator (dobro), baritone, electric and acoustic. Each production choice of the artist and of co-producer René Gely (including string arrangements featuring classical musicians) seemed to raise the quality bar ever-higher.

Bio: David Nelson Ostrosser was born August 2, 1955 in Chatham, Ontario, Canada. His parents, fervent evangelical Christians, were both active in gospel music from and early age, and David’s father Robert travelled extensively with the musical Rutledge brothers, brothers-in-law of weepy Canadian evangelistic television host David Mainse. In 1960, David’s family moved to Australia with other members of his father’s singing group, where they help to establish a novel (at that time) youth camp with a cowboy-style, horse-centred theme.

Followed a return to Canada where the older Ostrosser was a part of several other ranch camp ministries, both in Ontario and in British Columbia. After a series of moves that saw David change primary schools seven times in seven years, the family settled down in Mission, British Columbia, where David first started writing songs and playing music.

After starting out on trumpet at 11 years of age, David switched to drums, at 16 backing first country singers, and then a blues band fronted by a pub singer from England named Steve Caller. Itching to go on the road playing music full-time at this point, David switched to piano and took over on lead vocals. The band travelled around B. C. and to the Yukon, and did several house stints in seedy Vancouver bars in the city’s infamous Downtown Eastside, notably at a club called Fort Boogie, where they would do four sets before a bizarre crowd of junkies and homeless drunks, while naked go-go dancers gyrated on each side of the stage.

Following the evaporation of the high hopes of that first creative musical unit, David tried his luck in Toronto for a while, then returned to B. C., playing in countless bar band and duo collaborations and travelling throughout Western Canada, from Ft. Simpson in the Northwest Territories to Neepawa, Manitoba.

David produced a couple of singles in the 1980s, including “Check-Out Baby, Don’t Check Out On Me”, a whimsical creation that received respectable airplay for an independent record in those dying days of the vinyl format.

A growing interest in Quebec music and literature prompted a cross-Canada move, and David began a new musical career in Hull, Quebec, in the early nineties, hooking up with two other local musicians for a house gig in a bar just off the notorious Hull Strip (since cleaned up). It was light years away from the music of Harmonium and the glory days of Quebecois “Peace and Love” of the mid-seventies, and the engagement came to an abrupt end when a half-dozen police raided the club and came onstage to arrest the drummer.

After an interval away from music during which he went back to school to obtain a bachelor’s degree in Translation, started a family and generally settled down for good, David was inspired to write a half-dozen new songs and combine them with a number of older originals and record them with the help of Gatineau producer René Gely. The result is Second Hand Store, an LP-length collection of country and americana originals that bears witness to David’s affection for the vinyl medium.

Name: Ric MoorMusic: Director of MusicBorn and raised : Chatham Kent OntarioYear: 1997
(2009 update, Ric and the band are still together making great music.)

The Greater Windsor Concert Band was formed in September 1997 by Ric Moor. He recognized a need in the community for a traditional wind ensemble – not only for audiences, but also for those adult musicians in town looking for a place to enjoy their hobby. At that time, Ric invited many of the people he knew would be interested, and began holding Wednesday night rehearsals with a small group of about 12 musicians.

Ric Moor, Director of Music

Ric Moor is a well-known local musician born and raised in Chatham, Ontario where he began piano lessons at eight years of age. One year later, he joined the Chatham Kiltie band and at age 10, took up the clarinet. He performed with the junior band at the CNE band competitions where they took first place.

Ric attended George Brown College in Toronto receiving a diploma in piano technology. He has been a practicing piano tuner/technician since 1982.

Ric enrolled at the University of Windsor in 1988 to further his music studies. There, he studied clarinet with Dr. Imre Rozsnyai, Sonia Morin, Blake Stevenson, and Steven Millen. He performed master classes with Theodore Oien and James Campbell. He performed at New York’s Carnegie Hall with the University of Windsor Chamber Choir. In 1992, he was graduated with a Bachelor of Music Degree and the Board of Governor’s Medal. In 1993, he was graduated with a Bachelor of Education with specialty in Intermediate/Senior Instrumental Music.

Ric is in demand locally on clarinet and saxophone having played with such groups as the Windsor Community Orchestra, Macomb Symphony Orchestra, Windsor Light Opera, Peabody Bridge Demolition Crew, and the Lancaster Orchestra. He devotes most of his spare time now to the Greater Windsor Concert Band which he founded in 1997.

Artists: The LawsReleases: Ride It OutYear: 2007Connection: John Law was born in Chatham Ontario.

John Law – vocals, guitar, mandolin
Michele Law – vocals, bass

Note: Recorded in Nashville with producer Regie Hamm. The Laws trademark “tight-as-a-glove” harmony singing is highlighted throughout the 11 songs.

…..Cut to 2007, and John and Michele are not only husband and wife but are also partners in music, performing as The Laws and getting ready to make a strong move for greater recognition in the Americana ranks in this country behind a typically ambitious touring schedule (200-plus nights a year on the road) and a stirring new album for their own label, JML Music, titled Ride It Out. The duo’s fifth long player, Ride It Out is noticeably lacking any false notes in its compelling original songs, empathetic musicianship and emotionally charged vocal performances.

Recorded in Nashville with producer/writer Regie Hamm, and co-written with some of Music City’s top tunesmiths, Ride It Out showcases all the Laws’ strengths. Stylistically its songs range far and wide within a roots framework. Smooth country folk powers the album opening “Am I Still the One”; “Put Some Love Into It” is a jazz -tinged frolic keyed by Michele’s saucy vocal; the guitar-mandolin instrumental “Texacadia” is a Nickel Creek-style display of assured, hot pickin’; the classic country-tinged “Too Lonesome to Cry” features lyrics as simple, direct and devastating as the Steve Earle of “Valentine’s Day” and “Hometown Blues”; and, to close things out, “Getting Over You” is a bopping little folk-flavored ditty that evinces an ironic, Steve Goodman-like sense of the absurd in its account of someone doing everything but getting over a lost love. Vocally, Michele ranges from a soothing, plaintive, Emmylou Harris-like harmony (“Am I Still the One”) to assertive, Martina McBride-style belting (“Getting Over You”), whereas John’s rich, nasally tenor bears some semblance to that of the estimable Texas craftsman and New Traditionalist pioneer Radney Foster. And despite the presence of a few other players on the album, Ride It Out has the intimate feel of a Laws stage show, where the only sounds come from the duo’s voices and instruments.

John and Michele, who have become accustomed to living in their van (in fact, their personal possessions are in storage in Canada; they are, in essence, homeless), have made a commitment of sorts by putting down roots in Nashville, where they have rented an apartment and have signed a publishing deal with SWITR, Inc.

Not least of the Laws’ selling points is their acumen in the kitchen. They published a cookbook and have appeared on numerous cooking shows through the years, generating almost as much press for their culinary skills as for their music. They also offer shows that are part cooking workshop, part musical performance. This sprang from their determination to eat healthy while touring constantly.
Cooking or music? Music or cooking? At one point that might have been a tossup. Now, however, with the assured, resonant performances on exhibit on Ride It Out, it appears the Laws are really ready to start cooking. But not in the kitchen

Artists: The LawsTwo Releases: 1. Another Road. 2. Live @ the Camp St. CafeYear: 2005Connection: John Law was born in Chatham Ontario.

John Law – vocals, guitar, mandolin
Michele Law – vocals, bassNote:
” … terrific harmonies and strong song writing from an Ontario husband/wife duo at the crossroads of country, folk and bluegrass. ” The Montreal Gazette

The Laws worked Canada tirelessly, coast to coast, heeding the advice of musician friends who told them, “Stay in Canada and really work on your stage performance,” as Michele recalls. At the same time, they were building a repertoire of original songs to comprise the bulk of their live set. For three years they worked Canada and Australia, then made their fateful 2003 trip to Texas. By that time they had a second album (Two) out, which was followed in 2005 by two more long players, Another Road, a studio effort, and a live album recorded in Crockett, Texas, Live @ The Camp St. Café.Another Road 2005 Release:Songs include: Six String and a Song, Texas Callin’
Long Way From Gone, Let’s Pretend, Wondering If There’s More,
I Turn To You, I’m Falling, Another Road, Dreams
Your Only One, Lovers Tune

Live @ the Camp St. Cafe – 2005 Release:Songs include: Long Way From Gone, Six tring and a Song,
Beaumont Rag, Stone, Glass and Wood,
I Turn To You, Your Only One, Every Humble Knee,
Texas Callin’,Dreams, Lovers Tune, Believe Our Love,
Holes in My Shoes

Click on the video below to hear samples from the CD.
If video does not appear, watch it here.

Artists: The LawsRelease: TwoYear: 2002Connection: John Law was born in Chatham Ontario.

John Law – vocals, guitar, mandolin
Michele Law – vocals, bassNote: Two is The Laws second CD and features more country-tinged writing – Two was one of Country Music News’ top 10 CDs of 2002.

” … there’s no mistaking that this dynamic duo are about to become a headline attraction. Watch for The Laws to become the next Canadian-based act to attract international attention.”Country Music NewsTracks:
Shelter Me Brother
Heartache and Booze
Watching Over Me
Let’s Hit The Road
Away
Pattersons Curse
Holes In My Shoes
Not In Two
Breakin’That Chain
Elijah